Chocolate
Sylvie Douce: all for the love of chocolate
“I have big ambitions for the Salon du Chocolat in Zurich,” shares the founder of the Salon du Chocolat, Sylvie Douce, at our meeting before the Avant-Première of the 2nd Salon du Chocolat.
Sophie Douce – crédit Clolg
She will be proud as the chocolate fair, which just ended, had more visitors than the first year with16,000 in three days. In comparison, the New York’s fair, which is very popular in North America and celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2012, had 15,000 visitors. The exhibit hall with its 4000 sq meters is as big as the one in Zurich.
On the closing night it was announced that the Salon du Chocolat will be back in Zurich in 2014. “The exhibitors from this year but also new ones already told us that they would like to absolutely be there next year. This is for us the biggest compliment”, explained Sylvie Douce radiantly.
Seeing how devoted Madame Douce is with her fairs, one wonders how anything could go wrong. Not only she has so much experience with over 160 fairs in 18 years and just 21 in the last five months, but she has a supportive husband, François Jeantet. The two have been working together at the fairs since 1994 and Sylvie Douce stresses how much she likes being with her husband. You see François in the alleys of the fair making sure everything goes smoothly, talking to the maitres chocolatier and designers and going backstage where the models get ready for the popular fashion shows.
Sylvie Douce (holding flowers) and Francois Jeantet (on her ride side) – Salon du Chocolat in Zurich – crédit Salon du Chocolat
Despite the years this well-known French business woman is still as stressed as ever, before the beginning of a salon. There is no time to lose, giving an interview here and there, welcoming some of the producers of cacao beans or chatting with her dedicated teams from France and Switzerland.
However you can feel that it is a healthy stress; she loves what she does. It has become more than a job for her, more like a child. She happily shares they just signed new contracts to also have chocolate fairs in London, Cologne, Brussels and Vienna!
So the French couple will be travelling even more next year around the world!
Where haven’t they been so far? They had fairs in many cities in France in Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Lyon, Marseille and Cannes. They also have been in Madrid, Bologna, Cairo, Moscow, but in further away places such as Tokyo, Shanghai and many more.
When I ask Madame Douce why she participates in all the fairs herself, she replies how important it is to be there for the exhibitors to honour them, for the maitres chocolatier and also for the media to answer questions.
“And keeping the bond alive between us and the maitres chocolatier and the pastry chefs is important,” she adds.
Model at the Salon du Chocolat in Zurich, Maitre Chocolatier Thierry Lalet with Laeticia Mac Leod design – crédit Véronique Gray
She has known some of the chocolate houses for ages like the 120 year Maison Saunion and the Maison Hénin. She has seen Thierry Lalet from Maison Saunion in Bordeaux getting older. “I saw him at the fair under his parents legs, she says smiling while showing how tall he was when she first met him. Now Thierry Lalet takes part at the Salons du Chocolat himself. He made a chocolate dress for the Zurich fair with the wedding dress designer, Laetitia Mac Leod.
Sylvie Douce explains how wonderful the Swiss Press was last year about welcoming the first Salon du Chocolat in Zurich. The visitors loved it and suggested new ideas. It all started with a few exhibitors and large Swiss chocolate groups like Sprüngli, Villars and Camille Bloch, who supported the fair.
But why did Sylvie Douce and François Jeantet wait so long to bring a chocolate fair to the country of chocolate?
“This is a question many asked me last year,” answers Madame Douce. “Switzerland had never asked before nor felt the need to have a chocolate fair. Switzerland is a large chocolate fair in itself.” She continues explaining that in Switzerland there is already a chocolate fair in the French speaking part of Switzerland in Versoix (canton of Geneva). It is every year in March under a 1,000 sq meter tent. This year 21 chocolate makers came to present their new creations.
When the Zurich Messe approached the Salon du Chocolat, it was time. Sylvie Douce let herself be convinced. It had to happen one day, knowing that her children are Swiss!
Atelier Patisserie – the making of cupcakes – crédit Salon du Chocolat
You must think it is quite small here in Zurich compared to the big fair you have in Paris, I tell Sylvie Douce. The fair in Paris is 5 times bigger, with 20,000 sq meters and 130,000 visitors in 5 days in 2012. “No, because I know we have to be able to fill it!” she confesses.
When she thinks of potential new cities, what’s important to her is first to have a country which has enough pastry chefs, ice-cream makers and maitres chocolatier to have a fair and then to be in a city large enough to have visitors come. And of course she will not pick a place with too much poverty around or where a country is politically unstable and a war could break out at any time.
If it does not work too well in a city, she analyses with her team at Event International in Paris the reasons and they all wait a bit before trying again. At the moment finding destinations which don’t know chocolate so well to make them love it, is not too important to them. “We don’t want to put ourselves under pressure when so many countries are asking for us!”
She is proud of what she had done in bringing the world of chocolate in people’s life and in giving a new life back to the chocolate profession. There were almost no more maitres chocolatier years ago but thanks to the chocolate’s fairs young people like to become maitres chocolatier once again. The chocolate masters travel to the fairs and get inspired.
At the fairs visitors can see pastry chefs demonstrate a recipe or can participate themselves in an atelier patisserie. They can talk to the chefs, do some tastings or sit at conferences and learn about new trends. There is always a possibility to practice, discuss, eat, have fun and be amazed.
Live show with pastry chef Patrick Reiterer at the Salon du Chocolat in Zurich – credit Nicolas Rodet
Chocolate is something that people love and you can find in places you would not have found it at all not long ago. Sylvie points out that when she was in Japan 12 years ago she could not find any chocolate, same thing in Peking just 7 years ago. Now things have changed. In Japan there are numerous maitres chocolatier. The Japanese make excellent chocolates, some smaller ones and like to offer them for Valentine Day and White Day. Since the beginning of the first Salon du Chocolat in Japan in 2002 the sales in that country went up by 40%!
How does Madame Douce explain the boom of chocolate sales in Asia and in Brazil? For her South America and Asia are emerging countries and places like Brazil are now discovering chocolate. Chocolate is a democratic luxury product that most people can afford, she says. As the residents in these countries have more and more money to spend they try to do the same as in Europe.
The last chocolate fair of the season will be in July at the convention center in Salvador da Bahia in Brazil. In October the new season will begin in Paris, where it all started. In 2014 the Salon du Chocolat will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Do you still have pleasure doing what you do despite all these years, I ask?
“Yes of course, chocolate brought us so much happiness. It brings us back to our childhood and is comforting.”
Last Sylvie Douce confesses she loves the milk Swiss chocolate like Ragusa. While she does not know exactly how much chocolate she eats yearly, she says it is sure not far from the Swiss quota of 12kg!l
Sources: Vivamost interview with Sylvie Douce, Salon du Chocolat Presse Release 25th March 2013 & Salon du Chocolat book 2012/2013 Event International Production
